150 - COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. fully recovered. He was taken with the measles while at Bird's Point, Mo., and was removed to the hospital at Mound City, Ill., and also spent about five weeks in the hospital at Town Creek, Ala., suffering from fever. After the war was over Mr. Van Epps returned to his home in New York, where in 1867 he was married to Miss Ellen Bailey, who died July 16, 1872. To this union three children were born: Gertrude E. ; Leona M., and Elmer A. Mr. VanEpps was married, the second time, to Miss Isadora Cornell, who was born at Lindon, Genesee Co., N. Y., in 1847. Two children have been born of this marriage —Ethel A. and Ernest C. Our subject followed farming with success in New York until he sold out and came west. Locating in Fremont, in 1881, he purchased the Starr flouring-mills. These he remodeled to the roller process, adding the latest improvements, and also erecting fine elevators. He carried on these mills, doing a large merchant and domestic business, until the close of the year 1893, when he disposed of this property, and the following April purchased the flouring-mills and warehouse at New London, Ohio, and is at present operating the same. During his residence in Fremont he made many friends and was considered one of the substantial business men of the town. He served four years in the city council, and he is past commander of the G. A. R. WILLIAM DRIFTMEYER, a substantial and prosperous farmer of Madison township, Sandusky county, was born November 26, 1816, in Hanover, Germany. His parents, Louis and Isabelle (Tichen) Driftmeyer, rope makers by vocation, lived in Germany and died there, the mother in 1822, the father in 1843. In early life William Driftmeyer received a good German education. He worked out by the day till the age of twenty-one years, and in 1842 he came to America, immediately after landing coming to Ohio and renting forty acres of land in Madison township, Sandusky county, on which he lived one year. Then he bought forty acres of timber land, twelve of which he sold, and cleared the remainder, later buying forty acres, then twenty, then another forty, all timber land, which he cleared. On January 31, 1843, William Driftmeyer was united in marriage with Mary Cook, a daughter of Henry Cook, and they have had eight children, of whom William, born July 16, 1844, died at the age of seventeen; Henry, born October 21, 1845, lives in Washington township, Sandusky county; Mary, born November 26, 1847, married John Michael, a farmer of Michigan, and they have had two children; Eliza, born August 6, I850, married Fred Demschroeder, of Woodville township, Sandusky county, by whom she has had four children; Sarah, born November i 1, 1852, married 'William Helambrecht, a farmer, and they have had six children; Frederick, born May 5, 1855, married Mary Wendler, by whom he has had two children, and lives in Washington township; Sophia, born December 3o, 1857, married Henry Kilgus, and they have had two children, of whom one is deceased; and Louis, born February 2, 1862, married Minnie Friar, whose parents, Henry and Rebecca (Sam-sell) Friar, live in Madison township. Mrs. William Driftmeyer's parents lived and died in Germany. Mr. Driftmeyer laid out the road which separates Washington township from Madison and Woodville townships. The first oil well in Madison township was drilled on his land, and on the land upon which he makes his home in that township he has six good oil wells that yield six hundred barrels monthly; and on a thirty-seven-acre tract in Washington township he has two wells that will average two hundred barrels each month. Mr. COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD - 151 Driftmeyer is. a Republican in politics, and has been repeatedly honored with public office, having been trustee for two years, and road supervisor and school director for many terms. In religious affiliation he is a member of the German M. E. Church of Elmore. J. H. CLAUSS, president and manager of the Clauss Shear Company, Fremont, Sandusky county, was born in New York City June 4, 1855. His parents were Henry and Jennette (Flersch) Clauss, natives of Germany, who emigrated to America, sojourned for a time in New York City, finally locating in Cleveland, Ohio, where they now reside. J. H. Clauss was reared in Cleveland, where he received somewhat limited school privileges. His business experience from the time he was fourteen years old was that of apprentice in a German printing office, porter in a wholesale millinery house, and bookkeeper for a brass manufactory. He did not like to work for others, so after attaining his majority he began business on his own account as manufacturer of cigar boxes, in Cleveland. This he carried on some four years, after which he sold out, and seeing a chance at Elyria, Ohio, went there and invested what means he had in the Shear Company in that city. Seeing that the concern was not on a safe footing, he manipulated affairs so that he became secretary and treasurer, and finally full manager. The business thrived under his control, and he remained there until August, 1887, when he sold out the boiler, engine, and a part of the fixtures of the plant, and removed the rest to Fremont, Ohio, here meeting with unprecedented success in the history of shear manufacturing; but a check was put upon his prosperity for a brief period by his entire factory being burned to the ground on January 17, 1889. With his characteristic enterprise Mr. - 10 - Clauss at once resolved to rebuild, this time with brick, the former having been a frame structure. The dimensions were: Main building, 165 x 40 feet; two wings, each 96 x 40, all three stories high, with a basement and engine room 6o x 40. The building of this was accomplished from January 17 till March 4, in the short space of forty-six days, and is said by authority to have been the most expeditious work of like magnitude ever accomplished. The building is located on East State street, on the right bank of the Sandusky river, and is one of the handsomest plants of any kind to be found in Ohio. The magnitude of the Clauss Shear Company is not appreciated until we realize that it is by far the largest concern of the kind in the world. They give employment to 25o men in the shops, have twenty traveling salesmen in the United States, two in Canada and seven in Europe. They have a branch office at Kansas City (Mo.), in New York City, in Toronto (Ontario), and in London (England). The building-up of this vast industry is due entirely to the business sagacity and enterprise of J. H. Clauss. He has pushed the trade into all parts of the world. By the erection of this vast manufactory in Fremont, Mr. Clauss has contributed largely to the city's growth and prosperity. Aside from this he also manifests a leading spirit in all social and local affairs. He has just completed an elegant new residence on Birchard avenue, which is considered not only the finest in Fremont, but one of the finest in northern Ohio. Mr. Clauss is a stanch Republican, and a Scottish Rite Mason of the Thirty-second Degree. WENDEL SPRANG and wife are among the wealthiest and most prosperous residents of Green Creek, Sandusky county. Their success in life is due to frugal habits, unfailing industry and sagacious judg- 152 - COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. ment in farming. For the latter quality Mr. Sprang is indebted to his wife, for when he came to Sandusky county he was wholly ignorant of farming life, and from his efficient helpmeet he received his first instructions in rural pursuits. That the teachings were sound may be judged from the signal success that has attended the lives of this devoted couple. Mr. Sprang was born in Grafenhausen, Baden, Germany, September 19, 1833, son of Thomas and Euphemia (Meyer) Sprang, who in 1852 emigrated to America, locating near Sandusky, where he bought a small piece of land and worked as a laborer. He died in 1877, aged sixty-nine years, and his wife, who was born September 15, 181o, died October 3, 1880. They were members of the Roman Catholic Church, and had seven children, four of whom lived to maturity, as follows: Philip, who was killed by a falling tree at Wolf Creek; William, fatally crushed by the cars at Mansfield; Wendel; and Mary E., wife of Godfrey Young, of Green Creek township. The paternal grandfather of Wendel Sprang was killed at his home in Germany, in 1813, by Napoleon's French soldiers, during their retreat from the disastrous Russian campaign; the soldiers had demanded food which he was unable to supply. In 1858 Wendel Sprang was married, in Brownhelm township, Lorain Co. , Ohio, to Anna Margaret Mary Jaeger, who was born in Bavaria, Germany, July 31, 1835, daughter of Adam John and Anna Dorothea (Schellhouse) Jaeger. Her paternal grandfather was by birth a Frenchman. Mrs. Sprang was only three years old when she came to America with her parents, who settled in Brownhelm township, Lorain Co., Ohio, where her only brother, John Henry Jaeger, now lives. After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Sprang settled in Sandusky City, and began housekeeping with a capital of $150. Mrs. Sprang sewed for two shillings a day, and Mr. Sprang worked in a stave factory for 75 cents a day, one-half of which amount was payable in store goods, and Mr. Sprang says he would have preferred to work for 50 cents per day in cash. Thus they lived for two years, at the expiration of which time they had $250, which they deemed a sufficient sum to begin farming with. Corning to Green Creek township, Sandusky county, they bought twenty-five acres of land at $19.00 per acre, reserving $50, with which to build a house and " start on." It seems remarkable that with this small start the couple could make much progress in life; but to-day they own 25o acres of fertile and well-improved land. During the first season Mrs. Sprang cradled all the wheat, while Mr. Sprang bound it. Mr. Sprang had done no farm work up to that time, and his wife with good humor tells many amusing stories of how she had to teach him. When the Lake Shore road was under construction he chopped and hewed ties in the woods, and she loaded them on the wagon and hauled them to the roadbed. Mrs. Sprang also assisted him in sawing with a cross-cut saw. She laughingly remarks that if it were necessary she could do the same work now, so excellent is her health and robust her strength. It is no wonder that with a helpmeet like Mrs. Sprang his success has been so great. Mr. and Mrs. Sprang have one son, John H., and two grandsons, Henry W. and William Harrison. In politics Mr. Sprang is a Democrat. His religious faith is that of the Roman Catholic Church, and his wife is a devoted Lutheran; but they have never permitted their differences of belief to mar their domestic harmony nor cast a shadow upon their common, interests. PHILIP BRADY, who is numbered among the leading and influential farmers of Clyde, Green Creek township, Sandusky county, is a native of County Wexford, Ireland, born COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD - 153 in 1824. His parents, Terrance and Mary (Clear) Brady, were both born in County Wexford and were of old Celtic stock. The father died on the Emerald Isle, after which the mother came to America, where her death occurred at the age of seventy years. They were farming people of Ireland, where the grandfather, Patrick Brady, also carried on agricultural pursuits, and for generations the family occupied the same homestead. Our subject is one of a family of eight children, comprising six sons and two daughters, and the eldest sister still occupies the ancestral home. In order of birth they are as follows: Ellen, still a resident of Ireland; Thomas, who died in Clyde, Ohio; Patrick, who makes his home in Wisconsin; Mary, who was the wife of Matthew Nolan, and died in this country; Michael, a resident of Clyde; and Martin Philip and James. Philip, the subject of this memoir, grew to manhood in his native land, with such meagre school and other advantages as were available to him. Like so many of his countrymen who love the greatness of American liberty, he resolved to cast his fortunes under the flag of the young republic, and make it his adopted land. Accordingly at the age of sixteen he embarked for the Western World. He took passage on board a ship leaving Ross, Ireland, and in due time reached Quebec, Canada. He found his first employment in the New World with farmers in Lower Canada, but subsequently came to the United States, where he worked on the railroads, or at any employment which he could find. Desiring to become a permanent resident, Mr. Brady purchased five acres of land near Clyde, Ohio, and by frugality and thrift soon became the owner of a good home. This he subsequently sold, and then bought a tract of uncleared and unimproved land north of Clyde. Here he found in the densely wooded land ample field to exert all his energy and industry; but stubborn nature yielded, and Mr. Brady is now the proud proprietor of an excellent and well-tilled farm. It has now all been cleared, and there is no better land to be found anywhere in the county. His old log house, which he erected many years ago, is still standing as a relic of the times that were, and a memento of the hardships of pioneer life. At Elyria, he wedded Miss Mary Keating, a native of County Carlow, Ireland, and to them have been born eight children, as follows: Mary is the wife of John Furlow, of Buckley, Wash., and they have two children —John and Eustatia; Ella is the next in the family; Joseph is a resident of Buckley, Wash. ; Maggie is the wife of Grant Andrews, a merchant of Millersville, Sandusky county, and they have two children —Mabel and May; John, Philip, Jr., Kit-tie and Martin complete the family. On his arrival in the New World, Mr. Brady had only a few shillings left; but by enterprise, industry and economy he is now one of the well-to-do citizens of Sandusky county. He is a man whose honesty and integrity are above question; is of a happy, genial disposition, and thoroughly enjoys a good joke. In his political views he strongly adheres to the principles of the Democratic party, and he and his family are members of the Roman Catholic Church. GRANT FORGERSON, a substantial farmer and public-spirited citizen of Rice township, Sandusky county, was born in that county, February 22, 1829. He is a son of Thomas and Mary (Hull) Forgerson, who were born March 30, 1795, and February 1, 1810, respectively, the father in Orange county, New York. Thomas Forgerson worked for his father, Sidney Forgerson, in New York State, and in 1819 came with him to Fre- 154 - COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. mont, Sandusky Co., Ohio, the father buying a home here which he occupied till his death in 1830. On July 5, 1827, in Sandusky county, Thomas Forgerson was united in marriage with Mary Hull, and five children were born to them, as follows: Grant, the subject of this sketch; Dorcas A. and Wilford N., born August 2, 1832; Christina, born December 10, 1835; and Thomas, born February 17, 1841. In 1830 Thomas Forgerson moved to Rice township, and in 1833 bought 124 acres of land, where he lived up to the time of his decease. He was township clerk and trustee, and for four years was school director. In 1844, at the age of seventeen years, Grant Forgerson entered the Mexican war as a drummer boy in Company C, Fourth O. V. I., in company with his uncle, Isaac Swanck, who was quite up in military tactics. He and his comrades started from home in wagons, being conveyed to Maumee City, thence journeying via canal to Cincinnati, and from there to New Orleans. Reshipping, they crossed the gulf to Brazos Island, and went up the Rio Grande river as far as Matamoras, where they remained six weeks, then proceeding to Vera Cruz and on to Pueblo, Mexico, where they were stationed until the close of the war, Mr. Forgerson being in the service for about a year. There are few men who, like himself, have engaged in actual warfare before reaching the age of eighteen years, and he can relate many interesting experiences which he underwent during his service. After the war he came back to Rice township, and then going west remained two years, again returning to Rice township. On January I, 1854, he was united in marriage with Nancy Park, who was born in Ohio April 29, 1835, and they had four children, namely: (1) Mary E., born October 8, 1854, married Joseph Young, and they live in Rice township; (2) James G., born Oct. 29, 1856, married Clara House, and seven children were born to them, as follows-Mabel, January 26, 1883, Hattie, June 6, 1884, Jessie, December 22, 1887, Addie, January 26, 1889, Clara, July 9, 1890, Laura, February 19, 1892, and Scott, November 15, 1894; (3) Addie, born Feb. 24, 186r, married Frank Foster, and they live in Fremont, Sandusky county (they have three children, namely: Louis, born June 19, 1884; Achiel Grant, born December 28, 1886, and Ida, born March 28, 1893); (4) Ida N., born February 1, 1861, died November 17, 1861, and was buried in Rice township. Grant Forgerson is engaged in general farming, having 166 acres of land worth one hundred dollars an acre. He was clerk of Rice township for two years, and school director and supervisor for twelve years. In politics he is a good Republican, and in religious affiliation belongs to the Presbyterian Church, as does his entire family. In 1861 Mr. Forger-son became a member of the I. O. O. F. at Fremont, joining Croghan Lodge No. 77, and he has passed all the Chairs; he is also a member of the Knights of Honor, Lodge No. 95. He is a gentleman of mild manners, is widely known as an entertainer, and, it is almost needless to add, his friends are numerous. EMANUEL WENGERD is a well-known farmer and minister residing in Washington township, Sandusky county, and has the respect of all who know him. Having a wide acquaintance in this locality, we feel assured that the record of his life will prove of interest to many of our readers, and gladly give it a place in this volume. Mr. Wengerd is numbered among the native sons of Ohio, his birth having occurred on the old family homestead in this State February 1, 1849. He is a son of Joseph W. and Marden Julie (Walter) Wengerd, who at an early day migrated westward from Pennsylvania and COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD - 155 took up their residence upon the farm which was the birthplace of their son Emanuel. The father was at that time about thirty years of age, and there remained until he passed from earth, at the age of seventy-two. His wife passed away when seventy-six years old. Mr. Wengerd was one of nature's noblemen, his life filled with good deeds and kind actions. He was generous and benevolent, a good supporter of the Church and of all interests that were calculated to benefit humanity. When he was taken away the community lost one of its best citizens, but he left to his family the priceless heritage of a good name. The gentleman whose name begins this record profited by the good teachings and example of his parents, and the lessons which he learned in his youth have borne splendid fruit. He was trained not only to habits of industry, but also learned and developed those traits which in any place command the respect of all. He now devotes his time and energies to farming and to work for his fellow men, and has a good property in Washington township, Sandusky county, its neat and thrifty appearance well indicating his careful supervision. On December 31, 1869, Mr. Wengerd was united in marriage with Miss Margaret Nichols, daughter of Peter Nichols, a well-known resident of Sandusky county. Two children—George F. and Arthur W.—came to bless and gladden their home, which was a bright and happy spot until the hand of death was laid upon the wife and mother. Mr. Wengerd remained single for a year, and then was united in marriage with Miss Catherina A. Snyder, whose parents, William and Sarah (Heller) Snyder, are residents of Seneca county, Ohio; Mr. Snyder is a miller by occupation. This marriage was blessed with three children: John M., Charles S. and Howard E., of whom Charles S. is the only one now living; John M. died at the age of eight years, and Howard E. in infancy. Mr. and Mrs. Wengerd have many warm friends in this community, and their own home is noted for its hospitality. ABRAHAM BLANK, one of the most popular and highly-esteemed citizens of Sandusky county, carries on agricultural pursuits in Woodville township, and is also engaged in speculating in oil. Although an Eastern man by birth, he possesses the typical Western spirit of progress and enterprise. A native of Columbia county, Penn, ;he was born September 9, 1827, son of William Blank, and a brother of Amos Blank, the latter a well-known resident of Sandusky county. In 1836, when a child of nine summers, our subject accompanied his parents and the other members of the family to Ohio, locating in Madison township, Sandusky county, where he worked on his father's farm. They were the earliest settlers of that portion of the county, and went through all the experiences and hardships of pioneer life. Abraham received but limited educational privileges, for schools were few and far between, and the advantages afforded therein were not always of a superior quality. In the practical school of experience, however, he has learned many valuable lessons, and through reading, experience and observation has become a well-informed man. He continued working on the farm of his father from early boyhood until 1873, when he started out in life for himself, purchasing 120 acres of land, all of which was covered with timber. With characteristic energy he began to clear the place; the trees fell one by one before his sturdy strokes, and acre after acre was placed under the plow and made to yield a golden tribute in return for the care and cultivation he bestowed upon it. He erected a dwelling house; also built barns and outbuildings, put up fences which di- 156 - COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. vided the place into fields of convenient size, planted an orchard and made other general improvements which add to the value and attractive appearance of the place. He also engaged in the oil business, and in two years made in speculation upward of $31,000. Mr. Blank has traveled extensively through both the Southern and Western States, going on business trips to Kentucky, Indiana, Chicago, Michigan and Wisconsin, where he owns large tracts of land. He is a man of broad and liberal views, and is well liked and very popular with all classes of people, being highly respected throughout the county in which he makes his home, where his acquaintance is a wide one. For several years he has held the office of trustee of Woodville township, and during his administration a number of roads and bridges were constructed, as well as ditches and other improvements. He is a stanch Democrat, warmly advocating the principles of the party. An entertaining conversationalist, he can relate many interesting instances of pioneer life in this locality. He is still engaged in the oil business in connection with his nephew, and has practically retired from farming, having acquired a handsome competence which supplies him with all the comforts and many of the luxuries of life. WILLIAM W. POORMAN is numbered among the leading agriculturists of Sandusky county, having for many years been identified with its growth and upbuilding. He was born in Townsend township, Sandusky county, January 15, 1828, a son of John and Phcebe (Wetsel) Poorman, the former of whom was born in 1773; the latter was born about 1793, and died in Detroit, Mich., at the advanced age of eighty-three. Their family numbered four children. The Poormans are of German descent. At an early age our subject accompanied his parents to Sandusky City, Ohio, where his father was engaged in the grocery business until his death, which occurred at the age of sixty years. When William was a youth of fifteen, he accompanied his mother and the other members of the family to Fremont, where he worked in an ashery for two years, at the end of which time his mother removed to Ballville township, Sandusky county, purchasing forty acres of wild land. This our subject and his brother cleared, making there a comfortable home. The wild land was transformed into rich and fertile fields, and a good farm resulted from their earnest and persistent labors. While residing on that farm Mr. Poorman was married, January 6, 1850, to Miss Jemima Ann Hutson, of Ballville township, a native of Franklin county, Ohio, born December 4, 1829. Her father, James Hutson, was born February 13, 1807, and died June 18, 1893; her mother, who bore the maiden name of Elizabeth Stultz, was born August 28, 1828; they were the parents of the following children: Mrs. Poorman, John, Peter, Vincent, William M., Nathaniel W. and James S. The mother of this family passed away August 4, 1877. The paternal grandfather of Mrs. Poorman was John Hutson, who married a Miss Needles. The former was born in Maryland about 1784, and served in the war of 1812; the latter was born about 1787, and lived to be 104 years of age. The maternal grandparents were Peter and Elizabeth (Cliner) Stultz, the former born in 1776, the latter in 1780. Mr. and Mrs. Poorman have one child, Emma A., born October 2, 18 50, and educated in Fremont. On November 1, 1867, she became the wife of Robert A. Forgrave, of Scott township, Sandusky county, and to them have been born four children, one of whom, a son, is now living. For a year after his marriage, Mr. Poorman lived on the farm which his COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD - 157 mother had purchased, and then removed to the village of Ballville, where he resided some six years. Purchasing 107 acres of land in Section 15, Scott township, Sandusky county, that farm has since been his home. The greater part of this farm was in its primitive condition; but by patient toil he has made it one of the best places in the neighborhood, the forest trees giving way to fields of golden grain, and the log cabin to the spacious frame dwelling. There are also good outbuildings, and all modern improvements. In 1890 he leased the entire farm to the Sun Oil Company for an annual rental of $1, i 00 and one-eighth of the oil produced on the farm. Four wells are now in operation, yielding about fifty barrels per day, and Mr. Poorman therefore secures a good income. He has served as township treasurer, and for several terms has been township trustee, discharging his duties in a most creditable and acceptable manner. His political support is given to the Democracy, and he is a progressive and public-spirited citizen, giving his aid to and co-operation with everything pertaining to the welfare of the community. ROBERT A. FORGRAVE was born November 27, 1842, in Perry county, Ohio, and is one of the five children born to Robert W. and Mary (Kuhn) Forgrave. The father was born in Philadelphia in 1807, and was a pioneer of Perry county; the mother was born in 1818; her father, Adam Kuhn, was also a native of the Keystone State, and lived to the advanced age of ninety-two years. Mr. Forgrave was educated in the common and select schools of the neighborhood, and for some years engaged in teaching in Sandusky county, at one time being principal of the high school at Oak Harbor, while his wife was teacher of the primary department. In 1861 he joined the Union army, and for four years aided in the defense of the old flag and the cause it represented, participating in some of the most hotly con tested engagements of the war, including the battles of Cold Harbor, Petersburg and Spottsylvania, and was at Appomattox when Lee surrendered to Grant. At the close of the war he returned to Scott township, and for some years successfully carried on agricultural pursuits. He then leased his land to the oil company, and as the flow of oil is a good one he derives an excellent income therefrom. He is a man of good business ability, and his management of his business affairs has made him a substantial citizen. A. B. KEMMERLING. The hardy pioneers of the Northwest, who developed the land out of which some of the proudest States of our Union were constructed, were men not only of muscle but of brains; men who combined great endurance and industry with intelligence and religious principle, and with their wives, as brave and courageous as themselves, reared up their children in such habits of thrift and morality that the country has reason to be proud of them. Of such worthy parentage was born the subject of our sketch, a well-known and prosperous dry-goods merchant of Gibsonburg, Sandusky county, who is among the youngest of the men in that place to carry on an independent business, and who may be styled a self-made man. He was born in Madison township, Sandusky county, October 12, 1863. A brief sketch of his parents, Peter and Catherine (Unger) Kemmerling, will be read with interest by their friends: His father was born in Union (now Snyder) county, Penn., near Louistown, September 27, 1813. Here he spent his boyhood days, and in 1835, when twenty-two years of age, came to Ohio, locating in Wooster, where he lived two years, removing in 1837 to Madison township. In that early day this part of Ohio was a wilderness, just as it left the hand of nature, 158 - COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. and dense forests covered the face of the country, in which wild animals abounded. Deer were plentiful, and wolves made night hideous with their howls. Settlers were few and far between, but their hospitality was freely given, and they greatly enjoyed visiting each other. Mr. Kemmerling on coming here entered government land, which he cleared, and began farming. This occupation he followed until 1873, when, yielding to the infirmities of old age, he retired from active work and took up his residence in Gibson-burg. Early in life he became identified with the Evangelical Church, and for many years was a local preacher, at the same time working on his farm. He traveled all over that section of the country on horseback, as was the custom in those days, holding meetings at different points, sometimes being for weeks on the road. The life was one of hardship, but no one can tell the amount of good accomplished by these pioneer preachers, the advance guard of the great army of Christian people who now fill the churches of our land. Mr. Kemmerling was faithful in his self-imposed task until he grew old and his voice gave out, and he was obliged to cease preaching. He died October 11, 1893, regretted by all who knew him. He was an old-time Whig, and later, when the Republican party was formed, joined its ranks. The mother of our subject, who was the second wife of Mr. Kemmerling, was born March 23, 1835, daughter of Abraham and Elizabeth (Snyder) Unger, and is still living. She became the mother of five children, as follows: Salome, who married Charles Fairbanks, and lives in Madison township; Samantha, wife of Alpheus Fraunfelter, living in Gibson-burg; A. B., our subject; Franklin, living in Cleveland, Ohio; and Lillie, wife of James Bowerson, who lives in Cleveland. By his first marriage our subject's father had thirteen children, five of whom are deceased; the others are: Catherine, wife of David Garn, living in Indiana; James, John and Edward, all of whom live in Michigan, and who were all soldiers in the Union army during the Civil war; Mary, married to Mr. Mowry, and living in Illinois; Maggie, married to H. Overmyer, and living in Indiana; Julia, wife of James Garn, of Indiana, and Ellen, who married H. C. Brost, and resides in Michigan. The subject of this sketch grew to manhood in Madison township, attending the schools at Gibsonburg and gaining a common-school education. At twenty-two years of age he began taking contracts for timber from a railroad company, which business he carried on until nearly two years ago, in the meantime clerking at times. On November i6, 1893, he bought out the dry-goods firm of J. W. Miller, of which he is the sole proprietor. He is doing a flourishing business, and ranks among the best. and most progressive citizens of Gibsonburg. Mr. Kemmerling was married February 26, 1891, to Mrs. Emma Downing, who was born in Cornwall, England, in 1859, and they have one child, Bliss. Socially Mr. Kernmerling is affiliated with the I. 0. 0. F., K. of P., K. 0. T. M., P. 0. S. of A. and F. & A. M. ; in politics he is a Republican. DANIEL KERNS is one of the most widely-known and highly-respected citizens of Sandusky county—a man whose well-spent life has gained for him the esteem of all with whom business or social relations have brought him in contact. He was born June 23, 1817, in Columbiana (now Mahoning) county, Ohio, son of Abraham and Elizabeth (Misheye) Kerns, who were natives of Pennsylvania, where the paternal grandfather, George Kerns, was also born. The parents of our subject removed to Ohio during its pioneer days, and settled COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD - 159 upon an 800-acre tract of land that formed a part of Washington township, Sandusky county. The place being then heavily covered with timber, Mr. Kerns at once began to clear and improve it, and at the time of his death all but a few acres had been placed under the plow. He was an industrious and energetic man, and those traits of industry and economy which had so much to do with his success were early instilled into the minds of his children. The family was a large one, numbering eleven children, namely: Mary, who was killed by accident during her early girlhood; John, of Wayne county, Ohio; Anna, who became the wife of Michael Powell, and died leaving four children—Albert, Richard, Susan and Lydia; Sarah, who became the wife of Samuel Powell, and died when well advanced in years, leaving a large family; Jacob, a retired farmer of Alliance, Ohio; Daniel, subject of this sketch; Solomon; Lydia; Lavina; Josiah, an M. E. minister of Kansas; and Isaiah, of Newton, Iowa, land agent, notary public and abstracter of titles. Thus amid the wild scenes of the frontier Daniel Kerns was reared, and with the family shared in the usual experiences of pioneer life. He remained at home with his father until his twenty-first birthday, attending the district school in the winter, and aiding in the labors of the farm through the summer months. On attaining his majority he began studying for the ministry, and after a thorough course returned to his home and became a circuit preacher, traveling through Washington township. After remaining here for a year, he went to Illinois, being the first minister to establish an Evangelical society in the city of Chicago, where he spent one year, and then again returning to Sandusky county was placed on the Marion circuit. The succeeding seven years of his life were devoted to ministerial work, and then, on account of ill health, he was compelled to retire. During this time he had saved what little he earned, and he now invested his capital in eighty acres of farm land, which owing to his care and cultivation has become valuable property. In the years that followed he devoted his energies to agricultural pursuits until 1886, when he retired from active business life and took up his residence in Lindsey. He still retains possession of his farm, which comprises 285 acres and yields him a good income. On March 30, 1843, Daniel Kerns was united in marriage with Miss Julia, daughter of Rev. Michael and Polly (Wolt) Walter, whose family numbered four children—John, Julia, Susan and Katie. The marriage of our subject and his wife has been blessed with thirteen children: Caroline Mary, born March 5, 1845, and became the wife of William Collar; Almira, born October 28, 1846, died at the age of four weeks; Rebecca P., born November 5, 1847, became the wife of W. W. Smith, a farmer of Sandusky county, and they have two children; Lidda Anna, born January 17, 1850, is the wife of Theodore Kerns, a coal dealer of Cleveland, Ohio, by whom she had one child, now deceased; Isaiah M., born August 9, 1851, died at the age of nine years; Benjamin F., born September 22, 1853, is deceased; Josiah, born January 19, 1856, and John C., born April 22, 1857, are both deceased; Obadiah, born July 3, 1859, is a farmer; Emma, born August 21, 1861, is the wife of John Slates, a miller by trade, residing near Fremont, and they have two children; Allen, born November 5, 1863, is a farmer; Ida, born May 9, 1866, died at the age of eighteen years; Dora V., born October 9, 1868, is the wife of Charles Schaebner, a razor grinder, and they have one child. Mr. Kerns was formerly a member of the Grangers. He votes with the Prohibition party, and is a warm advocate of the cause of temperance, giving his support to all reforms and measures calculated to uplift humanity in general. His 160 - COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. noble Christian life is one well worthy of emulation, and all who know Daniel Kerns have for him the highest regard. JOHN MALCOLM, one of the substantial and influential citizens of Clyde, exemplified in his younger days the nobility of labor in a manner so thorough as few of his compeers have done. He is a native of Scotland, and brought with him to Ohio a rugged constitution, an invincible spirit, a latent gift of energy which was expended upon the primeval forests of Ashland county with telling effect. It has been said that the Malcolm family cleared up more land than any other in Ashland county. In one year it cleared off forty-two acres, fenced it, and put the virgin soil in wheat. In that elder day the recital of this feat meant more than it does now, for the present generation can not so well grasp the tremendous amount of labor involved in the primitive clearing of land as could their forefathers who did the work. Labor was then the cardinal virtue, the chief avenue to success. Mr. Malcolm was born at Aberdeen, Scotland, October 15, 1821, son of Alexander and Barbara (Richie) Malcolm. Alexander Malcolm was a gardener, and his father, William Malcolm, was a milkman, among whose customers was the Aberdeen Lunatic Asylum. Two sons of William Malcolm, Arthur and James, participated in the battle of Waterloo, one of the most fateful in the world's history. They were stationed in the famous wheat field, where the regiment, or rather the remains of it, had " formed square," and for some time were confronted on three sides by Napoleon's heavy cavalry, who charged them again and again without breaking the square. Both were wounded, and both drew subsequent pensions for their injuries. A son of Arthur Malcolm, Arthur by name, and also a daughter, now reside at Akron, Ohio. Alexander Mal colm in 1835 emigrated with his large family to America. Landing at New York he came directly to Ohio, and after spending several months in Westfield township, Medina county, and Savannah, Ashland county, he purchased one hundred acres of forest land in Ruggles township, in the latter county. There were then no roads, game abounded, and bands of wandering Indians still strolled through the premises. Here Alexander fashioned for himself his permanent home, clearing the land and farming industriously until his death, which occurred when he was aged sixty-seven years. His faithful wife, ten years his senior, preceded him to the grave by about eighteen months. He was a Presbyterian in religious faith, and an unwavering Whig and Republican in politics. His family of ten children was as follows: Alexander, who died in mature life; Archibald, a resident of Northwest township, Williams county; William, who reared a family, and passed away many years ago (his eldest son David died in the Civil war); John, subject of this sketch; Jane, wife of Conrad Brandeberry, of Montpelier, Williams county; James (retired), of New London; Charles, who died unmarried; Thomas, who reared a family in Williams county, and died there; Robert, who reared a family in Ruggles township, and is now deceased; David, who died at the age of two years. John Malcolm was in his fifteenth year when he came with his father's family to Ohio. He assisted his father on the farm, but after the latter's start there was an abundance of labor in the family, and John became a clerk for King & Gunn, of Medina, afterward King & King. After a clerkship of several years he returned to the farm, where he remained until his marriage, in 1844, to Miss Harriet S. Munger, who was born in Livingston county, N. Y., April 5, 1826, and the daughter of Jehiel and Belinda (Janes) Munger, both natives of New York. In 1831 they migrated to COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD - 161 Ohio and settled in Townsend township, Sandusky county, where the father died in 1845, and the mother some years later. Here, too, died the father of Jehiel, also named Jehiel Munger, an Englishman by birth. The children born to Jehiel and Belinda Munger were as follows: Chapin Richard, who reared a family and died in Oregon; Clarissa, who died in childhood; William R., who died, unmarried, in Townsend; Hiram A., of Clyde; Harriet S., wife of John Malcolm; Daniel N., who died in California, unmarried; Tern-pie Jane, deceased in childhood; Tyler E., also deceased in childhood; Axie I., who married Edward Wheeler, and died in Rochester township, Lorain Co., Ohio; Jehiel, a bachelor, residing in California; Theresa M., whose child by her first marriage, Rufey Jordan, was the first woman admitted to the bar in the United States (she practiced at Seattle, Wash., and died at Chicago during the World's Columbian Exposition. Theresa M. married, for her second husband, Simeon Ketchel, of Coldwater, Mich.). After marriage John and Harriet Malcolm began housekeeping on a farm in Ruggles township, Ashland county. He helped to clear up the old farm, then bought 136 acres and helped clear it also. Since marriage he, with his own hands, cleared 100 acres or more, and he still owns 106 acres of fine land in Ruggles township. He was engaged in grain and stock-farming until 1866, when he removed with his family to Clyde, and he has since been a resident of that city. Mr. Malcolm has two children, Barbara B. and Marvin J., the former of whom is the wife of B. F. Rogers, and lives on Piety Hill, at Clyde; her children are Malcolm, Lillie and Archie. Marvin J. is married to Adelaide Rober, and lives at Clyde. Mr. Malcolm has been marshal of Clyde for nearly five years. He has served as cemetery trustee three years, and for twenty-seven years has been a prominent member of the I. 0. 0. F. In politics he is a Republican. In June, 1888, Mr. and Mrs. Malcolm took a protracted trip to California, visiting friends at Yuba City, Sutter county, and traveling extensively on the Pacific coast. He now lives a retired life in the full enjoyment of the comforts which have come to him after a busy and well-spent career. A. B. FRENCH. There are lives which rise so high above the level of the masses as to give to the disinterested spectator the impression of picturesque Alpine scenery, in contrast to the monotony of the prairie. Spirits are born to dwell in a human incasement of a fiber more delicate, of a strength more tenacious and of a mental force more subtle and elusive than falls to the usual lot of mortal man. The career o f A. B. French, a prominent citizen of Clyde, is a most remarkable one, remarkable for the strange powers he has possessed and exercised among men; remarkable for its literary excellence; remarkable for the various channels in which his efforts have been successfully exerted. As lecturer, Spiritualist, orator, nurseryman, author and lawyer, in whatever he has undertaken, he has excelled. Mr. French was born in Trumbull county, Ohio, September 13, 1838, son of Samuel and Amelia (Belden) French, the former of whom still survives; the latter died in 1879. Samuel French was born in Oswego county, N. Y., October 2, 1815, son of Byron French, a New Englander of Puritan stock. Amelia Belden was born near Hartford, Conn., in 1812, daughter of Asel Belden. Byron French and Asel Belden were both early pioneers in the wilderness of northeastern Ohio, and here their son and daughter married. Samuel French is a representative type of the sturdy Jacksonian-Democrat. In his school days A. B. French, the subject of this sketch, was a precocious youth. He acquired his lessons 162 - COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. without apparent effort, and easily led his class in mental attainments. It was during these days that perhaps the greatest crisis of his life occurred. Spiritual rap-pings began to be heard in his native town. The mother and sister of Mr. French were among the first to be influenced. They were both highly mediumistic. A. B. was at the age of sixteen a student at Western Reserve Seminary, at Farmington, with an enviable record, high ambition and the brightest prospects. During vacation he was at work on his father's farm one day, when, weary and athirst, he sought the house. Entering, he found mother and sister both entranced. To him it was a strange manifestation, and filled his mind with dread. He attempted to leave, but invisible beings commanded him to stay. Powerless, he sat down. A strange spell, such as he had never before experienced, came over him. He seemed both asleep and awake. Mortified and humiliated, he strove to shake off the influence, but it held him fast. He began to talk and he kept on talking. His destiny had come. His school days were over. The inspiration of the spirit world moved him. He found no rest save when obeying its behest. At schoolhouse and hall in neighboring towns he lectured. He constantly rebelled, for the public silently condemned, and the sensitive boy, then without prophetic eye, keenly felt the ostracism to which he was subjected. Repeatedly he avowed that he would never speak again, but the influences held him fast. Before he was twenty years of age he had more calls than he could fill. His fame had widely extended. His charm of utterance and the new strange thoughts he voiced held spellbound the crowds that nightly greeted him. Wherever he went a revival of pentecostal times was in his midst. The operation of the psychic force is thus described. When Mr. French with closed eyes first began to speak he was almost unconscious. His condition slowly changed till it blended with the normal state. Thoughts surged irresistibly for utterance at times, and the audience was carried along by the flood of thought. Mr. French's powers have been exercised mostly in speaking, but to some extent in writing, and there appear equally successful. In the summer of 1859 Mr. French removed to Clyde. In 1863 he started a nursery, with an outlook not especially encouraging for the enterprise, as his means were limited, but by untiring energy and liberal dealing he has built up a commanding business, which ranks among the largest in this line in the State, and now requires the services of fifty laborers and salesmen. In 1870 he began reading law, in 1871-72 attended the Law Department of the University of Michigan, at Ann Arbor, and was admitted to the bar at Tiffin in 1872. Mr. French began practicing law at Clyde in partnership with Judge John M. Lemmon. Their clientele grew rapidly, and our subject was retained in many important cases; but his health failed, and in 1875, after three years' practice, he was compelled to retire. He has never, however, withdrawn from the platform. His services have been actively sought in many capacities. While devoting his attention to his nursery chiefly, he has lectured on Sundays, delivered various public addresses, including many funeral discourses, and has perhaps officiated at more funerals than any other speaker of his age. His happy manner of presenting the glorious truths of immortality, and glimpses of a new and beautiful existence beyond the fleeting shadows of this life, has made calls upon his services very numerous. In 1876 Mr. French was unanimously nominated on the Republican ticket for representative, and made a noteworthy run, pulling the Democratic majority of Boo down to about 200, receiving in his own township the largest vote ever given any one candidate. In 1878, when absent from home, he was COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD - 163 again unanimously nominated, but refused the honor. From 1881 to 1888 he was engaged almost exclusively in lecturing, and from 1888 to 1890 was a member of the Lyceum Bureau of Chicago, and while lecturing before Spiritualistic audiences on Sunday, addressed many literary and church societies from Omaha to Boston with marked success. He has every natural endowment of the popular orator, and has won an enviable reputation under difficulties known only to his most intimate friends. During the past few years he has devoted most of his time to his extensive nursery business, and the building up and improvement of the village of Clyde, in which he takes especial interest and pride. In 1892 there was published a volume of lectures entitled " Gleanings from the Platform, by A. B. French." The lectures included " William Denton," " Legends of Buddha," " Mohammed, or the Faith and Wars of Islam, " "Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon," " Conflicts of Life," " The Power and Permanency of Ideas," " The Unknown," " Probability of Future Life," " Anniversary Address," " The Egotism of Our Age," " What is Truth," and " Decoration Address." These lectures, which are artistic gems of literature, fairly illustrate the author's lucid literary style, and his originality of thought and expression. The volume has had an extensive circulation, and is a valuable addition to American literature. The voluminous contributions of Mr. French to the Spiritual Journal have been widely disseminated. In his busy life have been blended the expression of a rare psychic faculty and the exercise of business abilities of a high order. He has associated in the incorporation of Clyde, has served in the city council, and has ever been identified with its best interests. In 1859 Mr. French was married to Miss S. A. Dewey, and to them were born two children: William B., who died at the age of twenty-nine years, leaving one child, and Miss L. L., who married A. Byers, and has two children. In December, 1891, Mr. French was married to Mrs. Mary E. Thomas, of Cardington, Ohio. FREDERICK FABING, gas and steam-fitter and plumber, Fremont, Sandusky county, is one of the oldest established business men in the city. He is a native of France, born in Lorraine June 14, 1832, a son of John and Mary Ann (Greiner) Fabing, who were also natives of Lorraine. John Fabing in early life learned the trade of gunsmith and jeweler, which he followed until he came to America. In 1834 he emigrated, locating in Fayetteville, Onondaga Co., N. Y. , and there pursuing his trade until 1844, when with the sweeping tide of emigration westward he came to the village of Lower Sandusky, now Fremont, Sandusky Co., Ohio, and established a home. His death occurred f uly 2, 1845, his wife surviving until 1882, when she died, at Fremont, at the age of seventy-nine years. Their children were: Catharine, wife of John Young, of Pilot Hill, Cal. ; John, a farmer of Jackson township, Sandusky county, who died at the age of fifty-two years; Lena, who married in 1845, and died in 1847, leaving two children; one that died in infancy; Frederick, subject of this sketch; and Barbara, wife of M. Hazeltine, of Baker City, Oregon. Mr. Fabing was a Democrat and a member of the Roman Catholic Church. Frederick Fabing attended the common schools in Fayetteville, N. Y., until twelve years of age, when he came with his father's family to Sandusky county, Ohio. He remembers distinctly the open winter of 1844, the voyage on shipboard from Buffalo to Sandusky City, the subsequent trip to Lower Sandusky, all the way by boat, and the landing at that 164 - COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. place on the 24th of December, 1844. The famous " Black Swamp " was then a wilderness, and only ten or twelve families had settled between here and Toledo. He used to engage in the sports of the time, hunting deer and other wild game in the deep forests. In 1850 Mr. Fabing joined a caravan to cross the Western Plains to California. This caravan was in charge of a Mr. McClure, who was familiar with the Indians and believed in treating them kindly, adopting military rule for the government of his men in order to prevent any mistreatment of the Indians. On one occasion a man of his party shot at a buck and squaw sitting on a log some distance away, but did not hit them; McClure at once had the offender arrested and tried by court-martial—by which the man was condemned to be tied across a wagon wheel during a half-day's travel over the sandy plain, so that his head and feet were alternately up and down. Most of the party remonstrated, but McClure was firm in carrying out the verdict, claiming that if the Indians had been shot or even slightly wounded the whole caravan might have been massacred. On being released the man was more dead than alive, but he soon recovered, and it is needless to say that he did not shoot at the Redmen again during the journey. Another precaution of McClure for the safety of his party was that of not allowing any Indians into his camp. He posted his pickets outside, and when Indians came to beg food they were given coffee, sugar, salt, etc., which was divided up amongst them, and they went away peaceably. In this manner the caravan passed through the most powerful tribes of the West unmolested. The party fared well until near the end of their journey, when rations became short. From the time they reached the valley of the Humboldt river until they entered California each man got only one cup of soup (made from a cow so poor that there was nothing left upon her) and a handful of crackers per day. Upon nearing points where supplies could be had a couple of men were sent ahead on the best horses they had, and they purchased flour, for which they were obliged to pay two dollars per pound, and eighteen dollars worth of it was cooked into cakes for the crowd for one dinner. The first appearance of white men after crossing the Missouri river was at Fort Laramie on the Upper Platte, where one company of United States troops was located. Mr. Fabing walked all the way across the plains, except one day in each week, when he was obliged to drive a team. On reaching California, in August, 185o, he engaged in gold digging, at Cold Springs, near Placerville, remaining there until fall, when he went to Shasto, on Clear creek, where he continued digging with good success in 1854. He returned home by way of the Panama route and New York City, remaining a short, time to visit with friends, returned to the gold field by the Tehuantepec route, located on the upper branch of the American river for a time, and then returned to Shasto. Here he had fair success and secured enough gold to pay him for all his time. Mr. Fabing in 1857 returned to Fremont, and in 1862 became connected with the Fremont Gas Company, with which he continued about twenty-eight years, most of the time in the capacity of superintendent. He became interested and skilled in the gas-fitting and plumbing business, which he followed in connection with his other duties, so that on retiring from the office of president he found himself controlling the chief trade in that line in Fremont. In 1865 Mr. Fabing and Mr. Heim jointly built the block which bears their names, Fabing & Heim, and the former still hold his interest in it. He is also one of the heaviest stockholders in the Opera House Company. In politics he is a Republican. In 1865 he joined the Masons, COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD - 165 being a member of Fort Stephenson Lodge, No. 225, of Fremont, and advanced in Masonry to Knight Templar, becoming a member of De Molay Commandery, No. 9, K. T., Tiffin, Ohio. In 1858 Mr. Fabing married Miss Mary J. Webber, who was born in Alsace, Germany, in 1833. EDWARD H. RUSSELL, a real-estate and insurance agent, and manager of the Opera House, Fremont, Sandusky county, was born at Fremont June 14, 1855, son of Henry S. and Margaret (Hawkins) Russell. Henry Shubel Russell was born in Morgan county, Ohio, in 1817, and came to Lower Sandusky, now Fremont, with his father, in pioneer days. He was a master builder and contractor. He served as sheriff of Sandusky county from 1865 to 1869; he married in Lower Sandusky, in 1843, a daughter of Thomas L. Hawkins, a local preacher of the M. E. Church, from Franklin county, Ohio. Mr. Hawkins and his wife were natives of Kentucky, and came in 1817 to Lower Sandusky, of which town he was one of the incorporators, and he was a man of remarkable pluck and energy. He was a cabinet maker, and to get water-power built the mill-race which is still in existence at Fremont, and erected thereon a sawmill. In politics he was an Old-line Whig. In March, 1856, he moved to Vinton, Iowa, where he and his wife died at an advanced age. To Henry and Margaret (Hawkins) Russell were born four children: Frank W., who enlisted August 7, 1862, at Fremont, Ohio, in Company K, One Hundredth Regiment, O. V. I., went into active service, was captured at Limestone Station, Tenn., September 8, 1863, and died in a Rebel prison at Richmond, Va., July 24, 1864; Henrys who died at the age of fifteen years; Ella, wife of C. A. Freeman, a grocer of Fremont, Ohio; and Edward H., whose name intro duces this sketch. The father's death occurred May 18, 1876. In politics, he was a Democrat. Edward H. Russell was reared in the city of Fremont, and educated in the public schools. On leaving school he traveled as business manager of a theatrical company for a period of eight years, and then returned to Fremont to engage in the insurance business. In 1890 he took stock in the Fremont Opera House Company, and became its business manager. Socially, Mr. Russell is one of the charter members of Fremont Lodge No. 204, Knights of Pythias; a charter member and Past Exalted Ruler of Fremont Lodge No. 169, B. P. 0. E. ; a charter member and first financial secretary of Sherman Lodge No. 111, A. 0. U. W. ; a member of Edna Council No. 64, National Union; and a charter member and first presiding officer of Onoko Tribe No. 140, Improved Order of Red Men. On January 9, 1883, Mr. Russell married Miss Laura L. Snyder, daughter of Maj. S. A. J. Snyder, of the Seventy-second Regiment, O. V. I., ex-postmaster of Fremont, who died in 1889, and whose widow, Clementine (Creager), resides in Fremont, Ohio. The children of E. H. and Laura L. Russell are: Arthur McKnight, Major Henry, Harry Allen and Paul Edward Russell. Mrs. Russell is a member of St. Paul's Episcopal Church. STARR & TUNNINGTON, proprietors of the Fremont Steam Laundry, are well-known business men of Fremont, Sandusky county, and have been engaged in their present enterprise since 1890. Their excellent work, especially in the line of shirts, collars and cuffs, has gained for them an extended reputation, and been the means of establishing a trade which comes to them from all over Northern Ohio, and also from Michigan and Indiana, within a radius of 150 miles. They have the 166 - COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. finest plant and the best equipments for a laundry that the most advanced ideas in machinery and methods have been able to perfect. Besides these almost perfect appliances and skilled operators, Fremont affords them a quality of water not to be found elsewhere. With these advantages and the well-known business ability and integrity of its managers, the success of the enterprise is assured. Of the proprietors themselves, the following sketches will be of interest. H. J. STARR was born in Elyria, Ohio, in 1857, and is the son of Horace Starr, of Starr Brothers, who were for years among the leading merchants of northern Ohio, and were very prominent in Elyria. He was educated in the public schools of his native place, and on arriving at manhood took charge of a Boston mining company. Later he filled the position of commissary for a railroad construction company in Virginia. When this work was completed he decided to take up some business more permanent in its nature, and with Mr. Tunnington purchased the laundry which they are now operating. Mr. Starr is a man of excellent business abilities, very accommodating, and of a quiet, pleasant disposition which makes him friends wherever he goes. He is very popular with the people of Fremont, and is a good citizen. F. M. TUNNINGTON, the other partner in this firm, is a native of this State, having been born in Cleveland, December 19, 1858. He grew to manhood in Elyria, and learned the trade of a printer in the office of the Republican in that place, working at this about seven years in Elyria and Cleveland. He subsequently embarked in the laundry business in Cleveland for a short time, and then went to Friendship, N. Y., where he perfected himself in the details of the business, carrying on a laundry there for two years. He then sold out and went on the road for a year, selling laundry fixtures and machinery. Returning to Elyria he purchased a laundry, but subsequently disposed of it, and with his present partner, Mr. Starr, came to Fremont, where they have established the fine plant which has already been spoken of. Mr. Tunnington is an expert in his line, and it is mainly due to his advanced methods of doing work that the Fremont Steam Laundry has acquired its enviable reputation. MARK THRAVES, farmer and dealer in live stock, Ballville township, Sandusky county, was born in Nottinghamshire, England, December 7, 1832, a son of William and Marilla (Graves) Thraves, whose history appears elsewhere. Our subject came with his parents to America when he was eleven years of age, and grew up on a farm in Washington township, Sandusky Co., Ohio. In the latter part of 1859 he went to Fremont to learn the trade of blacksmith, serving an apprenticeship under Solomon Lansing, who afterward removed to Michigan, and after whom it is probable the city of Lansing was named. In December, 1851, Mr. Thraves started for California by way of the Panama route, taking passage on a steamer at New York bound for the town of Chagres, at the mouth of Chagres river, on the Isthmus of Panama. The trip was a most hazardous one, the steamer losing one of her side-wheels and being nearly wrecked, making it necessary to put in for repairs on the way. Upon reaching the Isthmus of Panama, the passengers were rowed and poled up the river Chagres, in small boats, by the natives, and were sometimes obliged to land and walk while the boats were carried around the rapids. After leaving this river the passengers had to make an overland trip of twenty-five miles before reaching the Pacific coast. The men walked, while the women rode mules furnished by the citizens. To the consternation of Mr. Thraves and COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD - 167 his fellow travelers, upon reaching the port on the Pacific, they learned that the regular steamer was already so loaded with passengers that they could not get aboard, and that nothing remained for them but to take a sailing vessel for the voyage to San Francisco. The Vanderbilt Line, with whom they had shipped from New York, had no steam line on the Pacific, and so they took passage on the brig " Margaret." They put out to sea with a fair wind, but when within one degree of the equator struck a dead calm, in which they were obliged to lie helpless for two weeks, during which time twelve of the passengers took sick and died. They finally succeeded in pulling into the harbor of San Bias, Mexico, where the brig lay for a week, to the no small solicitude of the 250 passengers. The remainder of their voyage was tedious in the extreme. Perhaps apprehending further trouble, the captain of the brig put it in charge of the mate, and himself remained behind. Provisions ran short, and for the last three weeks each person had to live upon three spoonsful of cooked rice and a pint of coffee per day ; and upon reaching San Francisco there was not a half bushel of rice left on board the brig, and no other article of food whatever. They had been thirteen weeks upon the sailing vessel, whereas only fourteen days were requisite to make the trip by steamer. Unlike most other men who went to California at that period, Mr. Thraves turned his attention at once to farming, the raising of wheat and other grains in Sacramento county, as on account of the high price of flour ($50 per sack) it was more profitable than gold mining to one who knew more about farming than about mining. In the month of June, 1856, Mr. Thraves returned home to Ohio, and remained among his friends until the following April, when, with his brother William, he started back for California. On crossing the Isthmus of Panama they - 11 - met with a sad accident. The train upon which they were riding was wrecked, and William Thraves, with sixty others, was crushed to death; more than 360 were injured. All those who were killed were buried on the Isthmus. Controlling his grief as best he could, our subject completed his journey to California, where he followed gold mining in Yuba county, on the American river. In 1858 he made a trip into British Columbia and Vancouver Island. In December, 1860, he returned to Ohio, where he has since that time been engaged in his favorite pursuit of farming and stock raising, in which he has been remarkably successful. In politics our subject is a Democrat, and though not an office seeker has held various offices in his township, where he is justly recognized as one of the leading and most enterprising citizens. He has for many years been a member of the I. 0. 0. F., at Green Spring, Ohio. On April 3, 1862, Mark Thraves was married to Miss Sarah Hufford, who was born April 17, 1834, daughter of Cornelius and Mary Jane (Zook) Hufford, with whom she came to Sandusky county, Ohio, when two years old, and has since lived here. Her education was obtained in the district schools of Ballville township, and, with the exception of two years previous to her marriage, she resided with her parents. Her father was born in 1806 in Kentucky, became an early pioneer of Ohio, and died in Ballville township, Sandusky county, March 14, 1884, being buried in Washington Chapel Cemetery, Washington township, Sandusky county; he was a blacksmith by trade, and a model farmer. His wife was born in 1809 in Pennsylvania, died in 1882, and was also laid to rest in the above named cemetery. Their children were: Sarah (Mrs. Thraves), Simon, Elizabeth (Mrs. N. Rathbun), Catharine (Mrs. J. Emerson), and Martha (Mrs. Ferrenberg), all of whom are living. Mrs. Thraves' paternal grandfather, Jacob Hufford, was 168 - COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. born in Kentucky in 1770, and died in Ohio in 1850; his wife, Catharine Creager, was born in Ohio about the same date. Her maternal grandfather, Abram Zook, was born in Pennsylvania in 1765. The children of Mark and Sarah Thraves were Delphin, born February 28, 1863; William, born May 15, 1865, and married to Ida, daughter of Walter F. and Emma (Young) Huber; Mattie M., born October 30, 1869, and Ida F., born August 15, 1867. THE THRAVES FAMILY. Samuel Thraves, the great ancestor from whom are descended the Thraves families in Sandusky county, Ohio, lived and died in Nottinghamshire, England. He married Miss Ann Moult, and their children were: John, Elizabeth, William, Thomas, Grace, George, Faith, Robert and Mark. About the year 1830 Thomas came to New York city, where he died, leaving one son. George came to America in 1833, and settled in Virginia, where he died in 1882, leaving several sons, one of whom, Joseph, went to California. WILLIAM THRAVES, son of Samuel, was born December 27, 1799, in the town of Tythby, Nottinghamshire, England, of Anglo-Saxon descent. He was five feet ten inches in height, with blue eyes and flaxen hair, and when in the vigor of manhood weighed about 180 pounds. He was a member of the Church of England, and his occupation was that of butcher. In 1827 he married Miss Marilla Graves, who was born December 29, 1799, in the village of Austin, Nottinghamshire. She was also a member of the Church of England. The names and dates of birth of the children born to them in England were: George, July 19, 1828; Ann, July 19, 1828; Robert, May 14, 1830; Mark, December 7, 1832; Faith Elizabeth, March 20,1835; William, July is, 1837; Thomas, September 6, 1839. In 1844 the entire family emigrated to America, and settled in Washington township, Sandusky Co., Ohio, where they followed farming and stock-raising, and here the youngest son, Levi, was born March 2, 1847. In 1854 they settled upon a farm of eighty acres, in Ballville township, which they had bought. This was their family home for many years, and here William Thraves and his sons followed farming and dealing in live stock with good success. In 1882 he retired from active life to a quiet home which he had bought, adjoining the farm of his son, Mark. William and Marilla Thraves celebrated their golden wedding in 1877. She died April 2, 1883, after which. Mr. Thraves lived here and there among his children at his own pleasure until August 21, 1889, when he passed away at the home of his son, Mark. Both were buried in McGormley cemetery, Ballville township. Of their children, Ann M. Thraves married John Crowell, and subsequently moved to California, where they both died—she in 1867, he in 1882—leaving three children. Robert Thraves is in Camptonville, Yuba Co., Cal. Faith E. Thraves married Henry Bowman, and died in 1867. William Thraves (son of William, Sr.,) was killed in a railroad accident on the Isthmus of Panama in 1856, and buried there. George, Mark and Thomas are all farmers of Ballville township, Sandusky county. GEORGE THRAVES, farmer and dealer in live stock, son of William Thraves, was born in England, July 19, 1828. He attended school a few terms in Nottinghamshire, and at the age of sixteen came with his father's family to America, into the region of the Black Swamp, about four miles west of Lower Sandusky (now Fremont), Ohio. Here he endured some of the toils and privations incident to pioneer life, and attended a few terms of school in the country. After working on a farm for several years he served an apprenticeship at the blacksmith trade in Lower Sandusky with Mr. Lansing, afterward fol- COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD - 169 lowing his trade about two years in the shop of Samuel Moore, in Fremont, Ohio. On April 14, 1853, he was married to Miss Mary Jane Crowell, who was born in Sandusky township, in 1829, a daughter of Samuel and Mary (Link) Crowell. She had received a very liberal education, and had taught several terms of school in the country districts. In 1855 Mr. Thraves and his wife went to California by the Panama route, and located in Yuba county where he bought a mining claim and worked at gold mining about four months. He then sold his claim and bought a blacksmith shop in which he worked about one year, doing a thriving business. The society of the miners not being congenial to his wife, he returned with her to Ohio in 1858, and purchased a farm of eighty acres in Ballville township, Sandusky county. Here he followed mixed farming and stock raising for about thirty-five years with good success. Mr. Thraves has been an active friend of education in his neighborhood, having held the office of local director for twelve years, and taken a deep interest in the literary exercises of the young people. He also held the office of township trustee, and other positions of honor and trust in the community. He has been a member of Croghan Lodge, I. 0. 0. F., at Fremont, Ohio, since 1852, and held, at intervals, all the offices of the subordinate lodge. In politics he was a Whig until the Know-nothing agitation in 1856, ever since when he has been a Democrat. Mrs. Thraves became a member of the Methodist Protestant Church, near her old home, three miles west of Fremont. She proved a faithful and acceptable worker in Sunday-school and society work, and maintained a high standard of Christian character. She died at her home August 5, 1885, and was buried in McGormley Cemetery. Mr. Thraves has continued to reside on the farm with his youngest daughter, Lillie. The children of George and Mary Jane Thraves were: (I) Samuel, who died in infancy. (2) Ann Marilla, born in Sandusky county, Ohio, July 2, 1855, married to Charles Young, September 25, 1878, and their children are: Justin Irving, born July 13, 1879, and Elsie Lois, born December 21, 1883. (3) Mark Eugene, born April 18, 1859, now residing in the vicinity of Los Angeles, Cal. (4) Ida Hortense, born July 4, 1861, married to George Sommer, of Green Creek township, October 18, 1882, and their children are Wilbur, born in September, 1883; Fred, born in October, 1885; Barbara, born in September, 1887; Robert, born in November 1891, and Corinne, in August, 1893. (5) Meade George, attorney at law, Fremont, Ohio, born February 15, 1863, who was married April 9, 1890, to Miss Mary M., daughter of Everett A. and Maria L. C. Bristol; she was born at Fremont, Ohio, November 2, 1868. (6) Lillie May, born September 13, 1865, who was married April 9, 1895, to Merritt Cornell Huber, of near Green Spring, Ohio. LEWIS K. WRIGHT, the subject proper of this sketch, has seen the development of Scott township, Sandusky county, from the time it was a wilderness down to 1895. He was born July 13, 1812, and is the son of William and Polly (Squire) Wright, who were born in Vermont in 1784, and Canada in 1788, respectively. At the age of twenty-four years our subject came to Scott township, Sandusky county, at a time when no roads were made in the township, and when it took two days to go to Fremont and back, a distance of ten miles. He cleared a fine farm, and made a comfortable home for himself and family, which he is now enjoying in his old age. On May 7, 1835, he was married to Miss Finette Lockwood, of Madrid, N. Y., and their union was blessed with three children : (I) Ellen C., born September 4, 1836, now resid- 170 - COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. ing with her father and mother at Tinney, Ohio; (2) Levi L., born September 12, 1838, married to Julia Green, of Fremont, and now residing in Lincoln county, Tenn., and (3) William L., born in Cuyahoga county, Ohio, September 26, 1847, and married to Almeda Tinney, daughter of Darwin Scott and Sarah (Wiggins) Tinney, pioneers of Scott township (to them were born three children—Clara F., born September 3, 1874, was graduated in music from the Musical School of Indianapolis, Ind., June, 1895; Ralph R., born September 29, 1880, is also a musician and member of the Tinney Cornet Band, and Stella E., born September 9, 1882, who is also developing her musical talent on the piano; the children inherited their musical talents from their father, who is a violinist and also a cornetist ; he in turn inherits his ability in this line from his mother and her ancestry); William L. is a merchant, having a general store at Tinney, Ohio, and is also engaged with his father in farming. Politically the Wright family are Democrats. Mrs. William Wright was born March 5, 1852, at Tinney, Ohio, where she has always resided. The father and mother of our subject were pioneers of Sandusky county, Ohio, and the father died in 1856. They reared a family of four children, of whom our subject is the only one living; the other children were: Martin, born in 1810; Harriet, born in 1814, and Solomon, born in 1816. Our subject's paternal grandmother was born about 1756, and died in 1820; she was born in Vermont, and moved to New York, where she married Solomon Squire. The maternal grandfather of our subject was born in Lower Canada in 1756, and was the father of three children. Levi Lockwood, the father of our subject's wife, was born April 24, 1781, in Vermont, and died January 13, 1854; he went to New York, and thence to Ohio, locating near Cleveland, where he died. His wife was born March 20, 1788, in Connecticut; they were married March 30, 1803, and were the parents of ten children; she died October 10, 1850, in Brighton, Ohio. The paternal grandfather of Mrs. Wright, Nathaniel Lockwood, was born in 1750, in Connecticut; he moved to Vermont, thence to New York, and died in 1830. His wife, Annie (Bostwick), was born about 1754 in Vermont, and moved to New York. Mrs. Wright's maternal grandfather, Reuben Stone, was born about 1756, and his wife, Deborah (Comstock), was born about the same time, and died in 1855. FRANK M. METCALF, as a produce merchant of Clyde, has a wider acquaintanceship than most citizens of that city can claim. In the parlance of trade he is a " hustler," and the splendid business which he does is the fruit of his own unremitting efforts. Ever since he came from the service of his country as a veteran he has followed his present vocation, save three years which he spent in the mining regions of Arizona. Mr. Metcalf was born in Monroe county, Mich., May 11, 1843, son of Joseph and Sarah (White) Metcalf. Joseph Metcalf, who was born in Vermont in 1810, migrated when a boy with his father, Samuel Metcalf, from the Green Mountain State to New York State, and subsequently to Toledo, Ohio, whence, after engaging there for some years in the lumber trade, he removed to Monroe county, Mich., and there followed the same business. In 1843 he returned to Ohio, locating in Wyandot county, where his father, Samuel Metcalf, died aged eighty-six years. In 1857 Joseph came to Clyde, where he died two years later. Joseph Metcalf was a public-spirited and enterprising citizen. In New York State he had been appointed captain of militia, and he also served there as justice of the COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD - 171 peace. For several terms he was justice of the peace in Michigan, and in Wyandot county he was elected to the same judicial office. He was a man of ripe judgment, possessing that rare common sense upon which all law decisions rest, and few of the decisions he made were ever reversed. He was well-read in law, and acquaintances frequently consulted him in business and legal matters. Sarah, his devoted wife, who was born in St. Lawrence county, N. Y.', in 1820, is at this writing still living at Clyde, an active lady for her many years. She was one of the organizers of the 'Woman's Relief Corps in Clyde, and has since been an active member of the same. Both her sons fought upon Southern battlefields for national union. Her parents died at Berlin Heights, Erie county, aged eighty-six and eighty-seven years, respectively. The three children of Joseph and Sarah (White) Metcalf were Judge L., Louisa and Frank M. Judge L. Metcalf was born in Monroe county, Mich., in 1839. He enlisted in Company K, One Hundreth O. V. I., and was taken prisoner at the battle of Limestone Station, Tenn., in 1863. He was imprisoned on Belle Isle and at Richmond, Va., about a year. He never recovered from the effects of prison life, and died in 1874, as a result of the indescribable hardships, the starvation and exposure to which he was subjected. Louisa was born March 2, 1841, and married Henry Miller, of Clyde. She died in 1862. Frank M. Metcalf was fourteen when his parents came to Clyde, and here for several years he attended the village schools. In July, 1861, when eighteen years of age, he was one of a company of young men from Clyde, Green Spring and Tiffin, formed to join a regiment of sharpshooters in New York City, but that regiment not being fully recruited they enlisted in the First United States Chasseurs, and were afterward assigned as the Sixty-fifth N. Y. V. I. This regiment saw hard service from the start. In a letter to the editor of the National Tribune, Washington, D. C., and published in the issue of June 21, 1894, F. M. Metcalf thus recounted a few of his army experiences as follows: Editor National Tribune: Well do I remember the skirmishes during the fall of '61 in Virginia above the Chain Bridge; also, McClellan's move toward Centerville, and our return; also, the trip on the Peninsula; Yorktown; the hot fight at Williamsburg, and the fight around Richmond; how Gen. Casey's troops were forced back from their breastworks by the Confederate troops. The First U. S. Chasseurs were sent across the railroad to reinforce the Thirty-first Penn. and Brady's battery. After Casey and Couch had been driven back we were north and rear of the Confederates, picking up prisoners. At this time a man rode over to us from the enemy's lines and told us we would all be captured. The boys were inclined to give him the laugh. He said he was only doing his duty; also, that the woods to our right and front were full of Southern troops, which we soon found to be a fact. This man again rode back to the enemy's lines. The question has always been in my mind, who was he? He at least showed us where his sympathies lay. We then, on a double-quick, fell back through a strip of woods; Brady's battery, near the railroad, with the Thirty-first Penn. and Chasseurs behind an old rail fence and woods in front. The enemy massed, and, amid a deadly fire of shell and canister and musketry, charged, and woul d have captured our battery but for the timely arrival of a portion of Sumner's Corps, which turned the tide of battle here. After the Chasseurs saw the First Minn. forming behind them they felt safe, as these two regiments had seen service together before. Our infantry reserved their fire until the enemy were within a few rods of our line of battle. The rebel loss was terrible; the ground was covered with their dead and wounded. They made a noble fight. This was their first repulse and defeat that day. The next day our troops retook the ground lost the day before, but the loss on both sides was heavy. My memory will ever follow the marches and battles of the army of the Potomac—Malvern Hill, Manassas, South Mountain, Antietam, Fredericksburg, under Burnside and Hooker. The Chasseurs were the second regiment to cross the river below Fredericksburg, and its skirmishers the last to recross after the fight under Burnside. After the Pennsylvania Reserves had made their fatal charge the writer was with the troops who relieved this command. The moans of the dying and the appeals of the wounded in front of us was enough to touch the hardest heart. During Hooker's Chancellorsville fight the Sixth Corps was below Fred- 172 - COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. ericksburg. At night, about 10 or 11 o'clock, the Chasseurs were deployed as skirmishers, and advanced to drive the Confederates out of the city. We met with such resistance we concluded to wait for daylight. The writer and fifteen or twenty men were with the Chasseur colors on the Richmond turnpike. We ran against their reserve pickets, who were behind a barricade across the road. They had us at a disadvantage, and we had to either be shot down or run to the rear or front. We gave them a volley, fixed bayonets, and with a genuine Yankee yell charged them from their position. They then withdrew their forces from the city back into their intrenchments on the heights, probably thinking the balance of our troops were at our heels. We kept hid in the city until morning, between the two lines, not daring to show ourselves to either side, and expecting to be captured by the Johnnies, but came nearer being shot the next morning by our own troops before we could make them believe we belonged to the Chasseurs. History tells how Marye's Heights were captured at the point of the bayonet by the troops under our old Col. Shaler. The general's memory will ever be fresh in the minds of the soldiers in that charge by the daring and courage he displayed riding along the line, and with his presence encouraged the boys charging the enemy's works. The next morning found the Sixth Corps silently recrossing the Rappahannock, where we all breathed freer, as we could tell by the distant "boom, boom" to our right and rear that Gen. Hooker had run against a snag at Chancellorsville. The writer was with the Sixth Corps at Gettysburg, Wilderness, Spottsylvania, Cold Harbor, Petersburg, against Early's raid on Washington, and Cedar Creek; but space will not permit making mention of incidents during these hard-fought battles. Where are the Chasseurs now? After the war Mr. Metcalf returned to Clyde and engaged in the produce-shipping business. During the three years-1882-85—he was located in the Santa Rita mountains, Arizona, looking after the interests of the Salero Mining and Milling Co., of New York City, and also operating silver mines of his own there. Mr. Metcalf is a man of energetic, pushing habits, and he has thereby built up a large trade. He is a prominent member of the U. V. U. command at Clyde. Mr. Metcalf was married in February, 1886, to Miss Emma J. Miller, daughter of Lyman Miller. Her three brothers were in the war of the Rebellion, and the oldest was shot and killed in that war. GEORGE J. BLOOM. Among the thousands of emigrants, of various nationalties, who, during the last half of the nineteenth century, have come to our shores from the overcrowded hives of population in the Old World, none have contributed more to our national prosperity and the stability of our American institutions, than those who came from the German Fatherland. Wherever they have settled, whether in the busy marts of our rapidly growing cities, the stirring lumber and mining regions of the mountains, or the broad fertile prairies of the West, they have, as a class, established an enviable reputation for industry, frugality and thrift, and are to-day among our most trustworthy and law-abiding citizens. As a gentleman possessing these characteristics, in a modest way, we present the subject of this sketch. George J. Bloom, retired farmer, Fremont, Ohio, was born in Baden, Germany, November 25, 1836. His parents were Jacob Bloom and Barbara (Florien), the former of whom was also born in Baden, where he followed the trade of shoemaker, and after his marriage in the year 1854, emigrated with his family to America. They took passage in a sailing vessel, encountered severe storms and adverse winds, and were fifty-four days on the ocean. Proceeding westward, they came to Sandusky county, Ohio, and settled on a forty-acre farm in Ballville township, on which they made their home. After a useful and exemplary life, and living to see his children in good circumstances, Jacob Bloom died, July 2, 1883. His wife, Barbara, was born in Alsace, France (now Germany), and passed away at the age of forty-five, after faithfully performing her duties as a helpmeet to her husband and mother to her children. Her father, Joseph Florien, a pioneer of Sandusky county, died here at the advanced age of one hundred and nine years. His children were: Joseph, Barbara, Mag- COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD - 173 dalene, Catharine, George and Julia. The children of Jacob and Barbara Bloom were: Jacob, a physician, who lived in Indiana and died in Ballville township, Sandusky county (he was unmarried); William, who is engaged in the manufacture of potash, at Fostoria, Ohio; George J., our subject; Barbara, who married Lewis Mutchler, and lives on a farm near Green Spring; and Mary, wife of George Bloom, a laborer, at Fremont, Ohio. Our subject went to school in his native city of Baden about eight years, also attending the services of the Lutheran Church, and learned the trade of barber. At the age of eighteen years he came with his father's family to Sandusky county, Ohio, where he assisted his parents in the purchase and clearing up of a farm, besides working several years as a farm hand among the neighbors, learning the methods of well-to-do farmers. On February 18, 1863, he married Miss Annie Coleman, who was born February 2, 1841, in Hanover, Germany, of which place her parents, Frederick and Marie (Stratman) Coleman, were also natives; they emigrated to America in 1845, and settled near Woodville, Ohio, where the father died in 1887, aged eighty-one years, and the mother at the age of thirty years. Their children were: Annie, wife of our subject; William, a farmer, living in Ottawa county, Ohio; Henry, a farmer of Sandusky county; John, a soldier of the Civil war, now an employe of the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern railroad, living at Fremont, Ohio, and Frederick, living at Woodville, Ohio. After his marriage Mr. Bloom settled on a farm near Green Spring, Ohio, where he lived about nine years. He then sold his farm and bought another near Genoa, in Ottawa county, on which he remained four and a half years, when he again sold, next buying a farm of eighty-five acres in Ballville township, about three miles southeast of Fremont, which he greatly improved and made his home thereon for seventeen years. He was quite successful in the raising of grain and the rearing of live stock. In the year 1892 he bought property in and removed to Fremont, to give his children the advantages of the city schools. This property he traded, a year later, for a farm of seventy-three acres (formerly the Thraves' homestead), adjoining his other farm in Ballville township. Mr. Bloom has been a Democrat in politics, but is not a partisan. He and his wife were reared in the doctrines of the Lutheran Church, but during the last twenty years have been worthy members of the Evangelical Association. Their children were: Caroline, wife of Charles Martin, a farmer, who has four children—Ralph, Blanche, Vinnie and Mabel; Amelia, who married Oscar Lemon, and has two children—George Edward and Hazel; and Mary, Barbara, Anna, George, Ida and Charles, all of whom are unmarried and living with their parents. FREDERICK SMITH, a resident of Sandusky township, Sandusky county, was born in Baden, Germany, June 2, 1829, a son of John and Catharine (Ernst) Smith. The parents were also born in Baden, the father August 24, 1783, the mother November 5, 1787; both died in Rice township, Sandusky Co., Ohio, where they had settled in the then forest. John Smith served in the Napoleonic wars, being with the staff of officers. He was on the famous march to Russia, where so many thousand soldiers were frozen, and was one of the few who escaped imprisonment. Frederick Smith grew to manhood in Sandusky county, and attended the common schools a short time. He remained with his parents on the farm, and by diligence and hard labor cleared off the heavy timber and drained a large tract, now some of the finest farming lands in 174 - COMMEMORATIVE BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD. the county. In 1852 he married Miss Elizabeth Kaiser, born in France, February 22, 1830, who is still living. He and his wife remained with his parents until their death, in 1870, soon after which time he removed to his present home in Sandusky township, but a short distance from Fremont. His brick residence is one of the finest in the township. Mr. Smith and his family are members of the Lutheran Church; in politics he is a Democrat, and has held public offices for twenty-two years. To Mr. and Mrs. Smith were born children as follows: Christina, deceased; Frederick, Jr., who is married to Caroline Loganbach; Caroline, wife of Lewis Nicholas; J. William, married to Maud Kinman; Elizabeth, Clara, Amelia, all at home, and Edward F., now at Toledo, Ohio. GEORGE W. KENAN. Among the hardy sons of toil who have subdued the towering forests, drained the malarious swamps and developed the vast agricultural resources of the region of northern Ohio known as the Black Swamp, the subject of this sketch deserves honorable mention. Beginning at the very foot of the ladder, at the age of ten, he patiently worked his way up the rounds, step by step, until he reached the height of competence. George W. Kenan was born July 31, 1824, a native of Perry county, Ohio. His paternal grandfather, James Kenan, was born about 1778, in Ireland, and died, in 1858, in Jackson township, Sandusky Co., Ohio. The grandmother was born in 1780. They reared a family of eleven children, three of whom are yet living. The father of our subject, Silas Kenan, was born February 3, 1807, near Wheeling, W. Va., and migrated thence to Perry county, Ohio, where he remained until 1835, the year of his removal to Jackson township, Sandusky county, where he resided till his death in 1875. He married Barbara, daughter of Jacob and Mary Overmyer, of Harrisburg, Dauphin Co., Penn., the father born in Pennsylvania about 1784, the mother about the same time. They reared a family of nine children, only one of whom survives, Peter, now aged eighty-five years, and a brief record of them is as follows: Barbara, Mrs. Kenan, was born February 20, 1802. Hugh, a farmer in Jackson township, married Miss Nellie Yost, and has eight children—Henry, Harrison, Mary, John I., Frank Mitchell, France, Martha and Hiram—three of whom are living; he is a Democrat, and a member of the Baptist Church. Margaret married Hugh Mitchell, a farmer, and has four children; Mr. Mitchell is a Democrat and a Baptist. Lewis, a farmer of Jackson township, like his brothers, is a Democrat and a Baptist, is married and has five children—Susan, Ellen, Ben, Catharine and Hugh. Eva married Rev. Mr. Dahouf. Catharine married Emanuel Roberts, and had two children, both now deceased. Polly, who married Benjamin Hammit, a farmer of Iowa, has eight children; he is a Democrat and a Baptist. Peter, also a farmer in Iowa, married Elizabeth Hill, and had five children; he is also a Democrat and Baptist. The name of the ninth child is Betsy. The children of Silas and Barbara Kenan, parents of our subject, were: Hugh, who died in childhood; George W. ; Thomas J., born in 1826, who married Jemima Housman, and was killed in a runaway at Fremont, Ohio, December 31, 1864, being preceded to the grave by his wife, who died August 23, 1864; Peter, born November 22, 1829, who was married March 4, 1856, to Sarah A. Hodgson and has had one child; William Manville, who, in 1878, married Miss Sylvia A. Powell (he has a fine collection of Indian relics); Minerva, born December 6, 1830, who married William Jackson, of Fre-